Michelle Monahan, Residential Faculty and Program Director of the American Sign Language, Deaf
Studies and Interpreter Preparation Programs, Phoenix College-Phoenix, AZ,
Michelle.monahan@phoenixcollege.edu
Young, N. M., Weil, C., & Tournis, E. (2016). Redefining cochlear implant benefits to
appropriately include children with additional disabilities. In N. M. Young, & K. Iler Kirk (Eds.),
Pediatric Cochlear Implementation (213-226). Springer Science+Business Media LLC. doi:
10.1007/978-1-4939-2788-3_13
In this chapter, the authors take a data driven approach to laying out a number of issues that arise from
the lack of consideration of co-occurring disabilities in children qualifying for cochlear implantation (CI). They
examine the idea that many disabilities can not be and are not identified early on, and are often diagnosed
after the most successful CI implantation window. They do an excellent job laying out a variety of populations
that may be affected including cognitive, sensory and psychological conditions. I am not an expert in these
conditions so I write my review in terms of how the chapter made sense to me with my background in hearing
loss, deafness and the Deaf community.
Much of the chapter is written in a clear manner with good defensive data. First, I believe it would
benefit the authors to review for clarity. Second, I encourage the authors to make stronger connections when
it comes to areas that call for specifics. Finally, I would recommend they look closely at interchangeable terms
and those that carry different meaning in the respective communities.
Terms such as deaf, Deaf, hearing loss, etc. are used throughout which could cause some confusion
for culturists and those that identify with certain terms over others (hard of hearing, hearing impaired, etc.). In
addition, it is not clear to me when referring to deaf children that are candidates for CI, if the discussion is
referring to the group who have/are attempted/attempting to qualify or the greater pool of all who are identified
VIDBE-Q
Volume 62 Issue 1
Chapter review: Redefining cochlear implant benefits to
appropriately include children with additional disabilities
14
